“What will you give to save a life?”
That’s the question that the board members rehearsed over and over again as we prepared to launch our first fundraising event, the Walk For Life. We had white T-shirts with red lettering and we all committed to wear them to our churches every Sunday for six weeks leading up to the Walk to raise awareness of this start-up fundraising event for the new crisis pregnancy center ministry.
We asked our churches to let us come in and do skits to promote the Walk; we had sign-up tables after services, we convinced missions committees to get involved and a tradition was begun that continues still today. In September of 1990, before the buildout of our little 800 square foot center was even complete, we held our first Walk For Life on the campus of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church because it was just a one-mile walk away from the new center! We got permission from the Town of Davie for the Walk to take place down 39th Street and turn right on Davie Road where the center was located so that people could see the physical plant that their dollars were going to support.
It was a hot, muggy day, but spirits were high and we had a great turnout. The people walked, we gave them a tour of the center and a cold drink, and they walked back to the church where we had a puppet show for the kids, provided by another church. From that very first Walk, we knew we had discovered a way for the whole family to be involved in protecting unborn life. The pro-life people in Broward County showed up in a big way…people from every walk of life and from every age group. The senior citizens came, the youth groups came, and the young parents came and brought their kids – on foot, in strollers, in mothers’ arms, and even some in little red wagons – but they came! It was – and still is – a beautiful thing to see our community coming together to support the cause of life.
We raised enough money that fall to see us through until the banquet that we planned to have in the spring and we saw God continue to “give us our daily bread.” That first year the Walk provided about 10% of our annual budget…and our annual budget was $65,000! That, too, is a tradition that continues…for many years the Walk For Life has provided about 10% of our annual budget. Last year’s budget was $1,000,000 and our Walk provided $110,000 in revenues. There’s just something about that 10% thing with God!
Walking by faith is a great adventure, and God has used the Walk For Life every year since 1995 to provide for the needs of Hope Women’s Centers. Check out our Walk For Life details! We hope that you and your church family will be there for the adventure!